The invention is directed to a novel method of forming sandblasted signs which heretofore has been done simply by placing a template of resist material of a desired design over a flat wood surface, and sandblasting the surface thereby transforming the desired design to the sign. As an example of the latter, if one wished to sandblast a wooden sign under the known methods, a template could be used, and the unprotected or unshielded portion of the wooden sign would be etched by sandblast material (sand particles, etc.) The lettering would be "raised," or "recessed," depending upon the nature of the template. After the sandblasting operation the upper flat surfaces of the "raised" letters might, for example, be painted a particular color and in this way the lettering would stand-out from the overall sign. This is one method currently in use but it is time-consuming from the standpoint of painting the letters after the sign has been completed, and if the painting is inaccurate the sign looses its quality and "professional" appearance.
An alternative to post-painting a sign is to pre-paint or stain, prior to sandblasting, the portion of the sign to be preserved in its original flat surface configuration. Therefore, though pre-painting followed by sandblasting is a quicker approach to manufacturing a sandblasted sign, it remains a slow and costly portion of the process, and it suffers from appearing "unprofessional". Additionally, in most cases in which the wood is pre-stained or pre-painted it is necessary to pre-stain or pre-paint each area with its respective color if multicolors are to be used. An example of this might be a person's name having lettering of one color and the address having numbers and letters of a different color. This is proportionally slower and more costly than single color and/or post-painted sandblasted sign manufacture.